The Shinora Family
by Lil Enchantress
Summary: No one ever told the Sohmas of the 2nd curse the 2nd family clan that also led the life as transforming animals. What happens when the 2 clans meet and begin to clash? There is a much deeper secret than all of them were led to believe... MomijixOC
1. Prologue

A/N: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of its insanely loveable characters. I do however own Mimi Shinora, her mother, and various characters that are not familiar to the actual manga.

**The Shinora Family; Prologue**  
Written by Lil Enchantress

In the old Chinese legend, God invited all the animals to his palace for a surprise. He told them that they should come tomorrow night right before dinner. When the rat told the cat about the banquet, he tricked him and told him that it was day after tomorrow. So the next day, while the rat rode on the ox's back the whole way up the hill to God's palace where the banquet were to take place, the cat was at home asleep. As each animal arrived, God gave them a place in the Chinese zodiac. The rat being first, then the ox, and so forth. But the cat didn't get his place because he was tricked by the rat, thinking it was to take place the next day. That's what most people think the Chinese zodiac is all about. I can tell you that there is so much more to it than you can even imagine.

Ohayo, I'm Mimi Shinora, and I'm about to explain what all you're missing from the story. Saying I'm an ordinary girl would be lying to an extent. I'm not sure how it happened, or quite when it happened, but it happened. When a member of the opposite sex bumps into me, or hugs me, I transform into an adorable sheep. Hooves, wool, tail, and all. Some people wouldn't believe it, but my family clan has a curse. There are thirteen members of my clan that can transform into their zodiac animal when hugged or deathly sick. This creates problems for us getting close to anyone or finding love. It doesn't help that our clan leader will erase anyone's memory that finds out about us either.

And in case you're wondering why I said thirteen instead of twelve like the number of zodiac animals, that's because the cat's included in on the curse. The cat is usually confined in the head's house until death, but this generation's year of the cat is living outside the Shinora's walls. But, she has to beat the year of the rat in fighting match before high school graduation or she'll be confined like the others. The strangest thing is, is that the year of the rat is her twin sister! I know sisters fight, but this is ridiculous!

In any case, this curse is completely stupid. It only ends up hurting people or killing them. Why doesn't this ever end? As soon as one zodiac member dies, they get "reincarnated" into the next baby being born into our clan. It's not really the same person, more or so it's the spirit that turn's them into their zodiac animal. At the moment, all the zodiac members are alive, even if I haven't met all of them yet. The youngest is about five, and the oldest is about thirty-five. So we're not exactly ranging really far, but far enough not to be in contact with _everyone_.

It didn't help that my mom was divorced from the Shinora male that gave me this curse either. They were just dating at the ages of seventeen and eighteen when my dad raped her. After that, she got pregnant with me and thought it was only right that she take responsibility and get married to him so she wouldn't be a single mother. Three years later, mom took me and ran away, which lead to divorce papers and a bunch of other crap. So by the time it got to signing papers of changing last names, she just said, "Hell with it, I'll just keep this one." As you can see, by not having a complete relation to the family, I'm a bit out of connections.

School! I can't believe I forgot about school, I'm gonna be late! I gotta go, bye!

A/N: Wow. I hope you guys can read that. I tried so hard to fit in all the prologue material, but not to worry! You'll find out more about it and the characters in the future chapters (the actual story). I know I probably have typos there somewhere, sorry. Please let me know what you think so far! I really would love constructive criticism that would help me improve my writing and not just plain "I love your story" or "I hate your story" kind of reviews. And as a note, the original characters WILL be appearing in this story. Someone misunderstood when I first wrote this and thought it was stupid because I made completely original characters with the same curse. There is a complete plot to this and I know what I'm doing, so please don't just say I don't have an original idea.

Thanks so much for reading!


	2. First Day of School

A/N:Ok, here's the first chapter...I hope you like it! Also, I do not own Fruits Basket. However, I do own Mimi, and the Shinora family.

"Mom! Oh my gosh! I'm gonna be late!" Mimi exclaimed, rushing down the stairs three at a time. "I wasn't paying attention to the time, I was reading, and now I'm going to be late for my first day of school!"

Mimi flew around the corner while pulling her coat on, and was just about to throw herself out the front door when her mom caught her by the sleeve, causing her to halt on the spot. She looked around at her mother with a desperate face wondering what could be more important than being late on her first day of school.

"Mimi, honey," her mother started. "School doesn't start for another hour. Remember the time change since we moved? Besides, I wasn't about to let you go to your first day of school on an empty stomach."

Looking at the clock that was over in the kitchen, Mimi sighed when it read five fifty-eight am. She must have forgot to change the clock in her room somehow. Why do things like this always happen to her? Pulling a chair out from the table, she sat down to calm herself a bit from the commotion she had just caused. At least she'd be able to eat now.

Mimi brushed her layered dark blonde hair behind her ears with her fingers while her mom got her breakfast ready(mmm, cereal). Personally she didn't like her hair that much, she thought it was too troublesome. The layered look was awsome, but it was really hard to style it with a ponytail and what not. Pretty soon, a bowl of off brand Lucky Charms were set in front of her, ready to be eaten with marshmallowy goodness. She couldn't resist but to take a bite before she mentioned something to her mom.

"Sherry-mama," Mimi started, using her mom's first name like she usually did when she was nervous. "What if the kids make fun of me for being half-german? Most Japanese people don't have blonde hair, I'll stand out as the new weird girl. I mean, I know I'm also half-Japanese, but I still look foreign even though I'm not. Do I have to go to school today? Why not next week, or next month?" she finished, rushing her words as she went.

Sherry looked at her daughter with a hopeless look in her eyes, then walked forward and hugged her close. "Honey, I'm sure you'll be fine. If you see a boy in the hallway, just be careful not to bump into them or anything. You know how much you wanted to be transferred out of your all girl's school, so you can't chicken out now. At least give it a try first. And my German heritage should not embarrass you, you should be proud of it," her mom lectured, but with love and care. "You know how much I love you, and wouldn't let any harm come to you!"

Mimi sighed and realised that she wouldn't be able to talk her way out of this. She thanked her mom for breakfast and her lecture before skipping up the stairs again to get the few things she forgot the first time around. After walking across her box filled room(a/n: remember that they just moved and haven't gotten time to completely unpack yet), she looked into the dresser's mirror and saw a pair of murky green eyes staring back at her. That was another thing she was gonna have to deal with when she got to school, strange eyes. She was about to walk away and get her book from her desk when she noticed how unkept her hair was.

"Holy crap! I was gonna go to school like this? What was I thinking?" she said to herself, as if she were insane.

She grabbed a brush and ran it through her hair a few times before thinking it looked presentable. It would have been awful going to a new school with a rat's nest for hair. Just in case, she checked the mirror again to make sure her navy blue winter uniform was on right, and there wasn't anything drastically wrong with her hair or face.

Her face was really plain because she didn't like make up much. She thought it covered up the natural beauty that all people are born with. When you put it on your face, it covers it up and replaces it with a mask. It's not that she hated people that wore it, she just didn't want to wear it because of the natural beauty she hoped she had in herself.

Tripping over a few boxes on her way to the desk to get her book she was reading earlier, she promised herself she'd try to put everything away after school because she was sure she'd break her neck if she didn't. Coming out of her room, she looked to the left side of the hall where a single door was at the end. The previous owner told them to always keep it open because it got stuck in the frame due to size misfit, which made it super resistant to even breaking it down.

Mimi stared at the open door for a minute, looking past it to where her and her mom had stored a bunch of random boxes they didn't know where else to put. Suddenly she got a chill down her spine as a creepy thought came to mind. What if one of them got stuck in there and something bad happened? She looked away quickly, trying to shake it from her mind. Mimi hopped down the stairs back the main level, and walked over to her mother, hugging her tight from behind as if it were going to be the very last time she would be able to do it.

"I love you mom, please don't ever leave me," Mimi whispered. "Be careful today, okay?"

Sherry-sama turned away from food she was preparing for her own breakfast to face her daughter in the eyes. "I love you too, honey. I'll be fine. And you know well enough that I wouldn't abandon you for the world. Are you okay?"

Mimi sighed, breathing in the flowery smell of roses that her mother usually gave off, "Yes, Sherry-mama. I'm just nervous. That's it, I'm nervous! I mean, what else could it be? It's getting late again, and if I want to get to school with time in case I get lost, I'd better leave now. Love you again, bye!"

Mimi pulled away from her mother reluctantly and walked past her to get out the front door. She waved a hand slightly, signaling her final good-bye, and shut the door behind her. Today was going to be a really long day she thought while walking down the road, onward to her new school.

-------------------------

Successfully getting there on time, Mimi slid into the seat that was sitting outside her first period classroom. It had been set there just for her, being the new student of the day. She'd be introduced in front of the entire class soon enough. Why did new students always get put on the spot? She didn't like public speaking in any form, and was so sure that she'd choke in front of everyone trying to say her name. Was it possible to die from attention-phobia? Before she had any more time to think of the awful things that could happen, the teacher called her into the class room, ready for introductions.

"As you all know, we have a new student here today. Could you please come in?" the teacher motioned Mimi into the class room. "Please tell the class a few things about yourself."

Mimi walked in and immediately felt a classroom full of eyes staring at her. She coughed slightly to clear her throat before announcing, "Ohayo, my name is Mimi Shinora. I'm, um, new..." she stuttered, as a few of the students laughed. "I like to read. And I can write, things...if I want to..." she trailed off, feeling really lame about how stupid she was.

She looked out into the crowd of teens that she had complete attention over and noticed that one in the back was completely turned around, probably sleeping. The strangest thing was his white hair, that she immediately got the feeling was his natural color, even though the roots were black. It reminded her of Winya, the year of the cow. She was only five, but her hair was white with black streaks in it. She only saw her a couple times, but Winya had a wicked temper problem she was scared of, no matter how cute she was.

Looking away from the white haired boy, she noticed a familiar face in the crowd. The teenage girl had reddish-brown curly hair, and brown-hazel eyes that accompanied her rectangular style glasses. The most unique thing about her though, was the fact that she was wearing the boys shirt uniform with her plaided knee length skirt(a/n: haha, actually it's just above the knee, but I couldn't figure out a way to type it...). It had been a while since she'd seen Nemo-chan at the last New Year's banquet, but she could still recognise her originality. Mimi smiled a friendly look towards her, hoping they could become friends, breaking the rule of loneliness to her new school.

Finally walking down one of the isles, Mimi took a seat behind a cute girl with straight blonde hair. It seemed as if a bunch of the students in this class had abnormal hair color. At least she wouldn't stand out as much as she thought she would. Looking at the blackboard, Mimi began taking notes with the notebook she'd brought, while Mayu-sensei got her a textbook. Class was going to be interesting, Mimi thought.

-------------------------

By lunch time, Nemo-chan had invited her over to her table and Mimi was getting introduced to some of her friends.

"Ohayo! I'm Emi Shinora. I don't think we've met, but we're cousins of some sort," anounced the blonde haired one that Mimi had sat behind in class, blue eyes sparkling. "I hope you have a great time at our school!"

Mimi nodded and smiled before looking over to Nemo-chan's other friend who was sitting across from her. She had waist length dark brown hair that curled in some places, and in other places, waved. With her burnt brown eyes, it made her look even more mysterious and beautiful. She looked like she was too cool for anybody else. But when she started talking, it gave a way different appearance.

"And hi! I'm Thinothinik Shinora, also a cousin of yours. Although I don't think we've ever met either," the dark haired girl said, nudging the blonde haired one to the side a bit. "You can call me Nik. I think it's great that you're coming to our school. You should hang out with all of us!"

"Heh, aren't they the greatest?" Nemo-chan said, hoping Mimi wasn't ready to leave the table by this point. "It really would be great to hang out. Another friend is another treasure as they always say."(a/n: haha, I just made that up right now...though I do think it's true!)

"I'd love to hang out with you guys! I didn't think I'd make friends on the first day of school because I'm so quiet and I'm afraid to talk to people. Although, I don't see why you guys wanted to talk to me at all. Not that I'm I saying I don't want you to!" Mimi finished, trying to catch herself from losing the friends she had just acquired.

"Don't worry about it! We're talking to you because we like you. If we didn't like you, we wouldn't be talking to you," Emi concluded.

"That was so deep!" Nik exclaimed, moving in to hug Emi. "I love you!"

Everybody else, "..."

"Heh, just ignore Nik, she's a little," Nemo paused, looking for the words. "Um, crazy might describe her."

"Haha. I feel at home!" Mimi said, smiling from the excitement of her new found friends.

"Although," Nemo started, looking around mysteriously. "To be our friend you have to answer one question." she finished, holding one finger up for effect.

Mimi gulped slightly then asked, "Wha-what would that be?" frightened that it might be the cost of losing her friends that she was growing to love.

"You have to tell us who you like," Emi whispered. "And not like a friend, we mean who do you have a crush on!"

They all looked expectantly at her, waiting for a responce while Mimi started blushing. She finally replied, "Um, well. I don't know his name, but he's got grayish hair and amethyst eyes. He's not in our grade though." Mimi looked away, blushing even harder.

Nik started a giggling fit, while the rest of them just stared at her random behaviour. Was this guy really that weird? Nik huddled over, holding her stomach due to the aches in her side produced from her laughter.

"You mean Sohma-kun? _The_ Yuki Sohma?" Everyone just stared at her expectantly, not getting where she was going with it. "Yeah, well I like his cousin Haru. The one with the white hair. He's so cute, and handsome, and I could go on forever with his wonderful qualities!"

"Yes, well please don't" Nemo interrupted. "I still don't get what's so funny about it though."

"Hm," Nik paused, deep in thought. "I don't either. Haha, oh well!"

Everybody just sweatdropped, not exactly sure what to say. Just then, a bobbing head of yellow hair flashed in front of the group of friends. A pair of great brown eyes met with Mimi's. Second's later, she found that they belonged to a young looking boy. He, unlike Nemo-chan, was wearing the girl's uniform top along with matching shorts.

Mimi, thinking he was some middle schooler wearing his sister's uniform, blurted the first thing that came to mind. "You're so cute!"

She soon realised that that that may not have been the best thing to say, as all her friends looked over at her with weird faces. I mean, hadn't she just said that she liked Yuki? And even more ironic, this was a Sohma too.

"Mimi-san, this is," Nemo started before getting cut off by a very hyper boy.

"Guten tag! I'm Momiji Sohma, pleased to meet you!" The boy announced with a huge grin plastered on his face. "Would you like to come with me and my friends to Starbucks after school? They don't bite. Well, most of them anyways."

"Um, well, I don't," Mimi stuttered before getting inturrupted by a very excited Thinothinik.

"She'll only go if we go! That's the deal," Nik said in a rush. "Oh, and Haru'll be there too, right?"

"Haha, yes!" Momiji laughed, obvious to the fact that she liked Haru-san.

"Ok, we'll all go!" Nik exclaimed, ready to get up and go that second, only to get disappointed to find out in was only two thirds through the school day.

"We're all going to meet outside the school by the big sakura tree after the last bell. See you all then!" Momiji explained, hopping away afterwards.

A/N: Yeah, I know it sucks. I think the next chapter is better, but you'll be the judge of that. So please let me know what you think! (by the way...Nemo, Nik, and Emi are all real friends from my school I decided to put into my story. (I'll be making a profile page for them soon enough) And of course, Mimi is myself. So try not to make fun of us too much! lol...)


	3. Starbucks

A/N: Ok, I actually was going to make this and the last chapter all one big chapter, but I didn't want to decieve you all and make you think that all the chapters would be that long. So here's this one. I hope you like it. (they will get better...I think)

Ps: Ohayo means good morning, konnichiwa means good day, arigato means thank you, and gomen means sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own fruits basket(natsuki takaya does), but I do own Mimi and the Shinora family.

-------------------------

After the bell rang for the last class of the day, and the last introduction to a new studies ended, Mimi and her new buddies walked out to the big sakura tree and waited for Momiji and his friends to come.

"Woot! I can't wait!" Emi shouted as they all sat down by the tree. "I haven't been to Starbucks in forever! Better yet, we're going with our new friend Mimi-san!"

"And the Sohmas," Nemo-chan pointed out, excited by the fact even though she'd rather jump off a bridge than express her happiness. "I hope they all pay for us 'cause I'm broke after buying that last manga. It was totally worth it though." Nemo sighed, as her head went into manga-land.

Nik was the only one standing, her eyes darting back and forth every now and then as if searching for something. She would sigh, sit down, and hurriedly stand up again when she thought she heard something coming. It was obvious that Thinothinik was super nervous and couldn't wait till Hatsuharu would arrive. Mimi on the other hand, just sat on the grass next to Emi-chan and Nemo-chan in a sort of daze. It seemed weird that she'd already made all these friends in this new school. I mean, she had friends in her other school, but she never really communicated with them like this. Mimi closed her eyes and smiled.

"HEY! We're all ready!" Momiji announced right into Mimi-san's ear, making her jump a mile off the ground. "We've all been waiting for you over there!" he finished, pointing his index finger towards a small group of people standing at the entrance of the school. "I guess I forgot where I told you guys to wait. Hahaha!"

The one with bright orange hair lifted his hand and moved it slightly in a waving manner. "Yo."

Mimi and her friends walked over to them, as Momiji started to introduce us in a bouncey voice.

"This is Haru Sohma, but you probably all know that," Momiji said quickly, pointing towards the male with white hair but black roots. He shifted his finger towards a girl with light brown hair with bows on each side, and darker, but inoccent brown eyes to match. "This is Tohru Honda. She's in the grade above us, but she's super nice." Momiji grinned, catching a breath.

"O-ohayo! I mean, konnichiwa!" Mimi stuttered, blushing from the fact that she just screwed up the simplist thing in the world.

Tohru laughed lightly, but then appologised, holding her hands together and her head down low. "Gomen! That was so rude of me! I shouldn't be like that. I've just met you! What have I done?" she stammered out, clearly scared that she broke the law or something.

The guy with the orange hair placed his hand on her head, pulling it upright so Mimi could see her eyes once again.

"Tohru," he said, sounding ready to blow a fuse. It looked like his eye twiched before he let go and muttered something about her being scatterbrained.

Mimi sweatdropped, waving her arms around her face. "It's really fine, I'm supposed to be laughed at! Nothing to be ashamed of. I just screw everything up and...stuff," she finished lamely, looking down.

Momiji, sensed the tense situation and hurriedly started introducing people again. "Um, this is Kyo Sohma," he said, pointing at the guy with orange hair. Momiji then pointed to the guy beside him with the gray-ish silver hair. "And that's Yuki Sohma. They're both in Tohru's grade." Mimi could feel her cheeks get warm as Yuki smiled and stared at her for a few brief seconds of acknowledgement.

"I, um, oh yeah! This is Thinothinik Shinora(you can just call her Nik), and Emi Shinora, and Nemo-chan!" Mimi exclaimed, pointing to each friend as she spoke their name. "And of course, I'm Mimi Shinora," introducing herself last.

Haru, Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru all nodded their heads. Haru paused a minute then spoke, looking at Nik, "Your name reminds me of Thinmints."

Nik swooned and replied, "Ah, you can call me whatever you want! Hahahahaha..."

"Well, we'd better go before it starts getting dark," Yuki pointed out, as Mimi drank in his calm and collected voice. It made her blush harder. Mimi's eyes shot open for a moment as she realised something.

"Ah, can I use someone's cell phone for a second? I'd better tell my mom I'll be home late."

Nemo-chan pulled a cute little black cell out that had red lettering on it (says:nobody knows I'm a ninja), "Here, you can use mine."

"Arigato! (presses numbers to her home phone...) Hello? Hi mom! Um, I was wondering if I could go out with some of my new friends I just made," Mimi talked into the tiny phone, looking away from everyone that as staring at her, making her blush. "Really? Arigato so much Sherry-mama! I love you! Leb wohl!" (a/n: leb wohl is bye in German)

Mimi gave the dark phone back to Nemo, then they all walked down the road towards Starbucks, talking and getting to know each other on the way. Just as they got to the door of Starbucks, Momiji brought up the subject of his birthday being the day after next. Mimi, still oblivious(not obvious-oblivious. it's way different) to him being in her grade asks a stupid question.

"Oh! How old are you going to be? Fourteen or something, right?"

Everyone sweatdrops and looks at Mimi who has a dense look written all over her face.

"Non! I'll be sixteen!" he said happily, pulling the door wide open by leaning back while his feet stayed in place.

Mimi opened her eyes wide in surprise as she gathered the information in her head and realised that he was in the same grade as her. "What! You're a sophmore? I thought you were in middle school! (mutters) Even if you were taller than me, I'm short...I won't even be sixteen till later this year!"

Nemo-chan leaned into Mimi's ear and whispered something.

"I know he doesn't act his age, but we all got used to it so we sort of forgot to mention that he's really our age."

Mimi looked faint, and almost blacked out, but she caught herself by shaking her head and walking into the Starbucks after Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki. (Momiji followed with Haru, then Thinmints, Emi, and Nemo) How could he be older than her? He acted like a twelve year old!

When they walked in the door, somebody was already there waving them down. Tohru, the innocent girl, got an excited look on her face and walked over to the yankee and two goths. That had to be the weirdest thing you've ever seen. When everybody else caught up, Tohru introduced the Shinora's to her, um...friends, and vice versa.

Tohru first waved her hands towards the two goths, "This is Hanajima Saki, and this is her little brother Hanajima Megumi."

Before Tohru could introduce her other friend, the yankee(who had her trademark mask on) announced herself, "Yo! I'm Uotani Arisa. You can call me Uo-chan, or whatever."

Mimi's POV

After introductions, we all took a seat in the back, everybody sitting in groups of fours around the circular tables. Thinmints ended up with her beloved Haru-chan, along with the not so important Tohru and Kyo(a/n: poor peoples...). Emi got seated with Yuki(as my face drops), Saki-san, and Uo-chan. I had finally been seated at the last table with Nemo-chan, Megumi-kun, and the annoying birthday boy, Momiji. I guess that's what you get when you're too nervous to sit down with your crush because you think if you do he'll think you like him. Yeah, that's the way my brain works...

So I was sitting there with my table when Nemo-chan started talking to Megumi.

"How old are you?" she asks. "I haven't seen you around before."

"Actually I'm a sophmore, but I've been going to a different school up until now. Onee-chan said I should transfer so I'd be in the same school as her. I really could care less about everything though."

My stupid instincts kicked in and I said the worst thing, _again_. "Aren't you too short to be a sophmore?" I paused and realised how awful it sounded. I never mean to say things like they come out, I just think my mouth is trying to kill me or something. "Gomen! I can't believe I said that, I didn't mean it like that at all!"

Nemo-chan looked over at me sort of surprised, but then tried to cover it by changing the subject. "So, do you take any honor subjects or anything? You look normal(normal?), but I can tell there's something special about you."

Wow. Does she realise how she sounds? Oh well, let her be happy. I ignore them for the time being, looking over at Yuki to see his shining beauty. Is it allowed for a guy to be that pretty? I don't care, it's so cute! After about the third time he called, I realised that Momiji was calling my name. I glanced over at him to see why someone would want to break my daydream in heaven so carelessly.

"Mimi-san! I was wondering if you would like to go up with me to order our drinks. It's self order here..."

I paused and saw that Yuki was getting up to order for his table(Kyo for his, being the gentleman he is), so I accepted the offer in a heartbeat, jumping up from the table so fast that it made a huge thump when both my knees cracked off the bottom of the table. I stood away from the table trying not to blush as Momiji asked Nemo and Megumi which drinks/treats they wanted. I can't believe how much of a fool I am.

As we're up in line, Momiji notices me staring at Yuki. I glance over at him and briefly wonder why he looks away quickly with a sad look on his face before I forget quickly and look back at Yuki. As we FINALLY get our drinks(jeez, so slow...), I help Momiji take the drinks back to our table. I notice that Nemo-chan has moved to Momiji's chair so that she's now right beside Megumi, rather than across from him. I help myself to the chair next to Nemo, so that Momiji takes the one between Megumi and myself. Deciding that I don't want to have a horrible time, I start talking to Momiji just for the heck of it(it's not like Megumi or Nemo-chan are listening anymore anyways). Hey, maybe if I sneak the subject in, I'll learn something about his silver haired cousin.

"So," I start, not really sure where I'm going. "You hang out with your cousins much?"

"Yep! And Tohru too! Altough it's always like you're in a zoo for some reason. It's fun!"

I really know what that feels like. Ha, I'm not year of the sheep for nothing you know. My cousins are special too, in their own way. At least, I think some of them are. Momiji starts talking again. I'm not really listening.

"So when we got home, everyone was laughing!"

Huh? Whoops, wasn't listening. What if he was talking about Yuki? Crap. Better act like I was listening anyways.

"Hahaha..."

Saki-sama stands up and announces that her, Uo-chan, and Megumi have to leave(Nemo pouts). Kyo stands up and says he forgot about his lessons at the dojo and has to leave, causing to Haru get up as well because he also obviously forgot(Thinmints pouts). Leaving us with Tohru, Yuki (I sigh), Momiji, Emi, Thinmints, Nemo-chan, and myself who all decide it's about time to leave anyways.

When we step outside, I realise how late it was since the sun was already starting to set. Once we're all out the door, Emi-san speaks up on my behalf .

"We should probably all walk Mimi-san home first since she probably doesn't know her way around town as well." This is so true.

"As long as you walk me home too!" Nemo pouts. "I, um, I forgot my way home again."

"Again?" (this is Emi speaking)

"Yeah...so!" (Nemo)

Haha, I look at Tohru and Yuki who both look completely stupified by the reason of fighting. I'm just like whatever. Ok, so we finally start walking down the sidewalk towards my house, sun getting lower making the scene just beautiful for walking beside your crush(even if I wasn't beside him. He looks great from behind in my point of view, heh, yeah...).

By the time we got to my block, the sun was barely there anymore making a small orange glow on all the houses. All of a sudden, Emi screamed out.

"Holy crap! That house is on fire!"

And there is was. The thing that ruined my life. Contrasting between the black sky and red-orange flames, was my house. On fire. I stood there for a moment drinking in the twisted beauty of the flames, before I started running towards them.

A/N: Woot, it's a cliffy! Bwahahaha! (ok, I'm just happy because I finally got this stupid chapter done) I really don't know how good this is. It could be crap, could be awesome, but I'll have no clue unless you review it. So please let me know what I might want to fix(besides a few typos and stuff)! Thank you so much!


	4. Mom

A/N: Omg! I'm SO, SO, SO sorry -cries- I haven't written anything in so long, you all must hate me -sniffles- Please forgive me!

A special thanks to **Em-uh-li, Steely-Toast, kitty.kat.wings, **and **NoCareChakara** for being the only ones to care enough about my fanfic to review it. I love you guys so much! Thanks to all you who have read it, even if you didn't review. Seeing the numbers on my stats list makes me happy. I apologise so much for my extended period of absense. It was school, vacation, and boredom, before I finally remembered I had a couple fanfictions to work on. Gomen!

Ahem...**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fruits Basket. If I did, you would probably hate it because of how poorly it would be written/drawn. So be thankful I don't own it...

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Mimi stared in horror as the house before her flew up in flames. Panting from the run down the street, she looked frantically around for her mother. She just had to of gotten out, she had to of! She pushed past some of the people that had started to crowd around as the firefighters battled fire with water creating a huge cloud of steam. Everywhere she looked was a face she didn't recognise, and another disappointment. Where could she be? When she tried to get past the firefighters, a police officer pulled her aside.

"And where do you think _you're_ going missy?"

"Let me go, that's my house! My mom's still in there!" Mimi screamed desperately, jerking away from the officer harshly. "You need to get her out! Why aren't you doing anything!"

The officer looked down at her and paused a moment giving Mimi the perfect opportunity to rush right past him, and closer to her house. She could feel the heat of the fire on her skin even though she wasn't even close enough to get in the front door. Mimi sprinted the last few steps, and almost walked into the burning house when a firefighter pulled her back by the shirt sharply.

"You can't go in there! Are you crazy?"

"My mom's in there!" Mimi shouted in his face while struggling from his grasp. "Let. Me. Go!"

All of a sudden there was an eerie creaking sound coming from behind them. Everyone backed away from the house cautiously while the firefighter had to drag Mimi further away. It was almost like slow motion when Mimi turned her head to see the house completely crash down on itself. Little splinters of wood shot by and cut her face, but she didn't care. All Mimi could hear was a scream that should never be heard. It was so heart wrenching and gruesome that it could've made her ears bleed listening to it. It was coming from the storage room at the end of the hallway where Mimi had a premonition about earlier that morning.

She looked away from the firey mess and back into the crowd with frightened eyes. Her friends were pushing people aside to get to the scene. They all looked confused. I mean sure, it's a burning house, but why get so emotional about it? Momiji bounded foward and stood right beside Mimi as the others came up after him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking concerned. "You got hit by a lot of that house's debree!"

"Are you a pyromaniac?" Nik inquired. "And maybe you just got too close? Or something..."

"Oh my god! Is this your house?" Emi shouted with a look of realisation on her face.

Mimi just sat there quietly. She was in shock, but she managed to slowly nod her head to answer Emi's question. Tohru put a hand over her mouth and everyone else gasped. Momiji hugged Mimi like a teddy bear, trying to comfort her before she slipped into a state of cold black unconciousness.

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Mimi blinked from the bright light that was shining in her previously sleeping eyes. Something didn't look right. Her bedroom ceiling was kept the original wood look, but this ceiling had a white plaster over it. She rubbed her eyes and leaned upward from her lying position. Looking around she realised that this wasn't even her own house. She was on a couch in the middle of a living room in a traditional Japanese styled house. The Momiji boy was lying half on the floor, half on the couch with his crossed arms and head on the cushion next to her. This didn't make much sense. And why did she have such a horrible headache?

Bringing her hands up to hold her aching head, everything from the past twenty-four hours rushed back into her head in a very unwelcome mannor. Mimi groaned and held her head even tighter, trying not to believe what she just remembered. Tears starting running down her cheeks from the pain. Lifting her head up, she found herself staring straight into Momiji's big brown eyes.

"Are you okay?" It seemed to be the only question he could ever ask.

They heard soft footsteps and a door opening to reveal Yuki in his half asleep mode. He walked straight into a wall, standing there for a minute. Glancing up at the two of them as if they were foreign objects, he suddenly remembered last night's events as well and gave Mimi a pitied look. Mimi was in awe as she quickly looked around the place again. This was Yuki-kun's house? What happened last night after...

"Are you okay, Shinora-san?" It's a wonder how even though he said the same thing, it sounded so much better.

Despite what her head was screaming at herself and them, Mimi couldn't seem to find her voice to speak. She was probably still in shock. The moment of happiness brought by Yuki was soon gone, as the memories pushed themselves harder into her brain.

_Stop it! That didn't happen! I don't care if I'm at Yuki-kun's house and it doesn't seem reasonable. It didn't happen! I won't believe it!_

Suddenly there was a creaking and Mimi looked around for a falling house, only to find Shigure and Tohru coming in the front door.

"Well, well, well. Look who's up!" Shigure chanted. "Are you okay, Miss Mimi?"

"Don't call her by her first name you pervert!" Yuki slapping the back of Shigure's head, making him fall foward onto his face.

_Yay Yuki! My prince in shining...pajamas._

Tohru walked over to Mimi, careful to step over Momiji who was sitting in the middle of the living room waiting for it to quiet down so he could talk to Mimi.

"Are you okay?" Tohru asked gently, putting a hand on Mimi's shoulder.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Mimi replied softly but confidently. "I'm fine, and if you don't mind, I think I should be going home."

Mimi started to get off the couch and stood up with all eyes on her. Mimi wasn't going to believe what her memories told her. It had to be a dream, and maybe she slept walked all the way here. Wherever here was.

The short silence was broken by footsteps walking into the room. Everyone quickly glanced at the mob of orange hair and held ground for what might be coming soon.

"Why the hell are you all staring at me for? And what's that _girl_ doing in our living room? And why the heck is it so fricken quiet in here?" yelled a pissed Kyo.

"Well it _was_ quiet until a certain cat walked into the room," corrected Yuki.

"Oh yeah?" Kyo shot back pitifully.

"Yeah," Yuki replied with a yawn. "Now if you don't excuse us, we need to convince Shinora-san to stay here for the day until we figure out what's going to happen."

"Yesh!" shouted a muffled Shigure from the floor. "She can stay here all day with me! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Everyone sweatdropped.

"Who's he?" Mimi wondered out loud with an almost scared look on her face.

"That's Shigure Sohma. Yuki and Kyo's cousin." Tohru spoke up.

"And mine too unfortunately," Momiji said, feeling left out. "Hey, I know! I could skip school today and stay here to make sure Shigure doesn't do anything. We don't have any tests or anything today anyways."

"I don't need a baby-sitter, and I don't need to stay here!" Mimi pouted, frustrated.

"Ah, the actual one being baby-sat is my perverted cousin, Shigure," Yuki pointed out. "But I think maybe you should just rest today. Would that be alright, Shinora-san?"

Mimi sighed. Even if she didn't have a huge weakness to Yuki-kun, she was completely defeated.

"Whatever," she replied with a voice of defeat.

Everyone walked their own ways to get ready for school, leaving Mimi and Momiji by themselves for a while.

"So what's your favorite subject?" Momiji spoke up, trying to small talk the awkward silence away.

"Um, Math I guess. English is good too, but I can't pronounce the words right.(a/n: keep in mind that they live in Japan...)"

"Me, I like History. There are so many stories and interesting facts. I wish I could be a part of History! Like a superhero!"

"I guess..."

"Did you find your way around the school yesturday?"

"Not really, but my cousins helped a lot. Everyone was pretty nice to me."

"That's great! I'm happy people want to be your friend! It's not-" Momiji got cut off by an unhappy Kyo. He of course wished he could skip today too, but life wasn't always fair.

"We're leaving!" shouted the orange topped Sohma.

"Shut up you stupid cat!" Yuki said while throwing a piece of toast at Kyo's face. "We don't need the entire school district knowing we're leaving the house."

"Eh, um, I guess we're leaving now," Tohru stammered, trying to stop the fight but failing miserably. She glanced over to Shigure, Momiji, and Mimi. "The leftover breakfast is in the refrigerator. Unless you want cereal, which is in the cupboards. Then there'd only be the milk you'd have to get from the refrigerator. And-"

"Come on Tohru," Kyo sighed. He had a big lump on his face indicating that he lost the fight. "I think they'll find the stuff alright, but we'll be late if we don't leave now!"

"And whose fault is that?" Yuki retorted.

"Shut up!"

SLAM!

"Ah, to be young again..." Shigure said to no one in peticular while closing the door to make sure the noise didn't come in the house.

-crickets-

"You're only twenty-six, Shigure!" Momiji informed his elder cousin.

"Ugh! Don't remind me how old I am!" Shigure cried, running up to his room to sulk. I mean, sulking was much better than writing his next book. Yes, Shigure thought. He'd found the perfect new excuse for his unexpecting editor. Bwahahahaha!

-And back to Momiji and Mimi...-

After hearing a mysterious evil laugh coming from the upstairs, they'd decided that they were hungry and got the food out onto the table to eat. They ate in silence and only spoke up when Momiji asked for her bowl so his could wash it. Mimi got up and walked over to the couch she'd slept on and turned the television on for company. She plopped down on the far right cushion, and watched a silly commercial of an old guy dancing for an amusement park add. How weird.

Momiji soon got done rinsing the bowls and sat down next to Mimi on the middle cushion to watch the T.V. as well. He seemed sort of antsy, but kept to his own cushion of the couch. After a couple more commercials, the news came on with a shocking new story. The newsman started his report with a monotone voice.

"Last night there was a blazing fire that destroyed the home of a mother and daughter, who had just recently moved in. Though the mother's body was found inside the house, they believe the daughter was not there at the time. We cannot yet confirm the information on the daughter's where abouts. More on the scene with you Karin. Take it away."

The picture moved to outside, in front of a burnt down house. It look eerily dead compared to the very alive flames that had been lit last night. All that was left was a whole bunch of ashes and blackened boards. Mimi watched with widened eyes as Momiji glanced over at her to see her reaction. The reporter, Karin, started speaking immediately.

"I'm standing in front of the house that burnt last night in the fire they say was caused by a stove that was left on without supervision. The mother that lived here, Sherry Shinora, supposedly left it for a moment, but got stuck in a room that even the firefighters couldn't break down. Although the medics think she could have survived the house crashing in on itself, her body had several 3rd degree burns along her torso, arms, and legs making the house crush her on impact. The daughter was spotted on the scene, trying to get back into her burning house, but she disappeared shortly after without a trace of her where abouts."

The T.V. changed scenes to last night's events as Mimi watched herself shout at the police officer and rush past him and almost into the house. Right before she reached it, she saw a firefighter run up from behind and pull her back by the shirt, saving her from some flames that burst out the door at that time. _Was that there last night?_ Short moments later, she heard that heart piercing shriek again along with the creaking of the falling house. _Why is this happening again? _Her friends rushed up, and the camera moved to the fire. When it turned back, they were all gone.

Momiji quickly clicked the television off, warily looking over to where Mimi was sitting.

"Mimi, I,uh-" Momiji started uncomfortably.

Mimi whispered. "She's gone."

"Mimi."

Mimi turned to look at Momiji with tears rolling down her cheeks. There was a look of acceptance and pure sadness in her eyes. Suddenly she jerked foward into Momiji's chest and starting crying harder.

"She's really gone! Momiji...my mom's dead!"

Momiji sat there quietly, understanding what she felt. His mom may not have died, but she may as well have since she doesn't even remember who he is. He sighed, feeling the tears starting to form in his own eyes as he wrapped his arms around Mimi, holding her tight.

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A/N: I was the one who wrote this, and it even made me cry! But it had to be written. It's part of my plot. -sorry- Um...hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to write(or I'll remember that I even have this fanfiction hopefully). If people review this, I will send back a personal -hug- to each of you! And the next chapter will be written much faster. Promise! Even if I have to stay up all night with writer's block to write it! (like tonight for example...)

lil' enchantress

Please Review!


	5. The Funeral

**A/N: Okay, first off...don't get mad at me for not updating as quickly. If anyone had checked my profile, they would have found that this story went on a temporary hiatus due to lack of ideas and much writer's block (which is basically the same thing, but whatever...). Someone was lucky enough to review and get my attention enough for me to try and update it at least a few times more. I just reread the entire thing before writing this because I needed to get the feel of the story, but I noticed how... empty it seemed. I left out tons of details because they were in my head and I just thought people would know what was in my head, which is ridiculous. Anyway...I hope I do better now since it's been a bit and I've gotten more English classes done. If you notice it's hard to read, just tell me and I'll try harder next time, promise!**

**Disclaimer: Fruits Basket is currently not being owned by me. **

Mimi was in the upstairs bathroom currently. Momiji had said it was Tohru's personal bathroom since she was the only female living in this residence, but since she was a girl also, that she could use it instead of the smelly guys one on the first floor. Finding out Tohru actually lived with the Sohma's seemed kind of weird, since she wasn't related in any possible way, but it didn't completely bother her. If that's where she wanted to live, then so be it. And Tohru was so lucky to be living in the same house as the handsome Yuki-kun!

Uh..yes. That was all besides the point. The reason why Mimi was in the bathroom was because... well, she was in a dire need of a shower, but she also wanted to check her appearance. It'd been a few hours since that incident with Momiji and the news channel, but she'd been crying almost nonstop since. Sure enough, you could certainly tell she'd been crying for hours... her eyes were red and swollen, accompanied by tear stained cheeks that had created paths down her smoked and debris littered face, and her hair was slightly dissevled because she hadn't combed it at all since yesturday morning. Plus the fact that her hair brush got burned in the fire would be a reason why she hasn't used it yet. It was as if she came out of a zombie horror movie. Ugh...

Grabbing a towel from the linen closet in the bathroom, Mimi sat it on the sink's counter space for conveniance when she got out of the shower. Stripping her clothes off and folding them next to the towel, Mimi got into the shower and turned the hot water on high with a little cold on to even it to make a steamy heaven. She let the hot rain flow over her face and shoulders and wash away some of the loose debris before scrubbing the rest away. It felt almost as if she were washing the last memories of her mother away, and it wasn't a very pleasant feeling. Despite that, she knew she had to keep rinsing it away to be able to be presentable, so she kept on scrubbing. It made her depressed. Just yesturday morning she was talking to her mother... how could she be gone?

After her hair was soaped and rinsed and etc, Mimi turned the water off and watched the rest of the water go down the drain before reaching for the nice dry towel. Drying herself off while still standing in the bathtub, she managed to get most the water off before stepping back onto the warm carpet on the bathroom flooring and putting her still debris covered uniform back on. A lot of good that shower did if she didn't have clean clothes...

When she got back downstairs, Momiji was on the couch watching a cool anime show called Naruto. He glanced over when he heard her footsteps and gave an encouraging smile. She stood beside the couch instead of on it because of her uniform, and after a bit, Momiji seemed to noticed that her clothes were filthy, as that being the reason she wouldn't sit.

"Hey... you could borrow some of Tohru's clothes if you want, Mimi," he suggested, feeling bad because she didn't have any spare clothes. "She won't mind! In fact, she'd probably be happy that she could help."

Mimi stared at Momiji for a moment in consideration before she finally agreed to borrow some fresh clothing. Momiji lead her back upstairs to the room across from the bathroom and walked over to Tohru's closet. When he opened it up wide, Mimi saw some uniforms... winter ones and spring ones, also a few dresses with puffy long sleeves. There were a couple shirts, with short skirts up on hangers next to them. Finally, Mimi chose one of the short sleeved white baby tees and the light brown skirt that was on the hanger next to it. It might not have been the normal outfit she'd wear, but it would have to do until she got some more clothes of her own. Momiji left, so she changed quickly and brought her folded, dirty uniform downstairs and set them on the washing machine (which she'd found by simply looking in each room until she found it).

Going back to the living room, she found Momiji once again watching that ninja show on the Tv. Momiji glanced up and widened his eyes when he saw her.

"Wow, you look great!" he said enthusiatically, moving over so she could have a place on the couch as well. "And I'm not just saying that either, I really mean it!"

A pink blush spread across Mimi's cheeks as she took the seat next to Momiji. She wasn't used to getting compliments like that so she wasn't sure what to say.

"Um, thanks," she finally responded, barely in a whisper.

Glancing over at Momiji from the corner of her eye, Mimi noticed that he was wearing feminine clothes again. He'd probably be able to pass as a girl had his hair been just a little bit longer. But there was one thing Mimi noticed... Momiji seemed to be outgrowing his clothes. The sleeves were short, and the frilly capris he was wearing seemed more like long shorts. He really wasn't all that short. (he was after all, taller than herself by about an inch or so at least... he just appeared to be a child still because of the clothes he wore.)

Pulling her eyes away from Momiji and biting her tongue about something she might have been able to say to him, Mimi started watching the television. A new episode of Naruto had just started and the theme was playing (fighting dreamers! ). There must have been a marathon of some sort with Naruto today. It was rather interesting actually... a show all about ninjas and their rankings, and friendship, alliances, enemies... it was hard to not get sucked into it. Since she didn't really want to think about what her present situation was right now anyway, she let the presence of the television suck her into it's dimension. That's what t.v.'s are for, right? Rotting your brain away so you don't remember things...

Six episodes of mindless watching Naruto later, Shigure came downstairs, a finished manuscript in hand. He was looking for a place to hide it so when his editor came to get it, he could fool her and tell her he hadn't even started it yet. And when she would say something along the lines of suicide, he'd pull it out of nowhere and tell her it's okay, and that he was just joking. It was his favorite game; 'Hide the manuscript from the Editor'. When he walked by the couch and saw Momiji and Mimi sitting together watching a cartoon on the television **(a/n: it's not a cartoon!)**,a light bulb appeared above his heading indicating he'd suddenly remembered something extremely important. He walked over and tapped Mimi on the shoulder, making her jump a mile before she realised where she was again.

"Hey, uh, Mimi...-san. I called the news number in and told them we have you at our house," he noticed Mimi's frightened face at this. "Don't worry, I told them not to come near here so they wouldn't bother you. But they told me that they'll be having your mother's funeral tomorrow at eleven a.m. It's so quickly because they couldn't find any of your mother's close relatives to come, and all the Shinora side oddly said they couldn't come because each of them had a weird disease."

Mimi knew it was because of the Shinora family leader, Otika-sama. She was always cruel to Sherry-mama and herself, despite her not being the cat. She was treated like an outsider because Sherry-mama was not a true Shinora. It wasn't fair, but it was the leader's will to do whatever she wanted, and they had to obey. It was most likely Otika-sama that ordered them not to come, no matter what they may have wanted. If they didn't obey, they were surely to be punished.

Mimi held her tears, and shook slightly instead. She didn't want to go the her mother's funeral because it would prove even further that she wasn't going to see her ever again. But in the end... who wouldn't go to their own mother's funeral when you were so close to them? It would be a sin to not go. So Mimi nodded to Shigure, biting her lip so she stilll wouldn't cry. She had made a silent promise to herself when she broke down in front of Momiji. She'd promised she wouldn't cry over it again. Once was enough, no matter how sad it was. She had to be stronger than ever now that her mother wasn't there to protect her.

Suddenly they all heard the door slam open and Kyo flew past, immediately rushing towards the stairs for his room. A second later, Yuki-kun and Tohru walked in the same door. Tohru had this scared looked on her face like she always did when Kyo and Yuki were fighting and she felt like she couldn't do anything. She rushed past everyone cautiously, up after Kyo to calm him down. Yuki-kun just sighed. All he'd said was "Jeez cat, why don't you walk faster." Of course he knew it would make him upset like that, but he couldn't resist. Now though, he wished he hadn't said anything at all. The Sohma life was so troublesome...

Mimi looked confused for a moment. Was it really time for everyone to be coming home from school? It didn't seem like it had been that long. Sure enough though, after looking at the clock that read three fifteen, Mimi sighed. It was hard to keep track of time. When did everything become like this? A little voice in the back of her head told her why. It was her mom. Everything was perfect with her mom. Now that she was gone, everything, no matter what it was, it was broken, confusing...

Footsteps broke Mimi's thoughts, so she looked up to see what was wrong. Thinothinik, Emi, and Nemo were all at the door, 'sneaking' in. Of course by sneaking, I mean loudly introducing themselves to the entire household.

"Hey everyone!" Emi shouted, smiling at the room. "I hope you don't mind that we came!"

"Yeah, I mean the door was open, and well we just came from school, so," Thinmints babbled, moving her head around as if she were looking for something. "Is Haru here?"

Nemo swatted Thinmints in the back of the head playfully.

"Nik... we followed Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo home. You should know that Hatsuharu wasn't with them then. Besides, we came to see Mimi-chan," Nemo gave an attempt to smile, but gave up when she noticed how oddly Yuki, Momiji, Mimi-chan, and Shigure were looking at her. "What?"

Shigure grew a cheshire grin.

"Oh, looky here! Highschool girls in my house. What a wonderful presen-" Shigure exclaimed before getting hit rather hard in the head by Yuki's fist.

"I don't care if these girls are strange and followed us home... that is still no way to talk about girls, or anyone for that matter!" Yuki lechured Shigure. "You need to go buy a brain."

Emi gave a funny laugh and walked over to Mimi, grabbing her arm and standing her up straight so they were looking eye to eye. Emi's face turned oddly serious for a moment.

"Are you okay, Mimi? If you need something to keep your mind off of everything we can go see a movie or something."

"Yeah, why don't we go see 'When Cows go Moo'... it reminds me of Haru's hair..." Thinmints suggested. "Or 'Kitty Woman' is good too now that I think about it."

"Or Naruto! It's first movie came out the other day! Let's go see that!" squealed an abnormally hyper Nemo-chan. "I've been dying to see it, but I keep getting lost before I get to the theater..."

Everyone sweatdropped. It really was a mystery for how lost Nemo-chan could get. It might even rival Hatsuharu's lost skills. Mimi on the other hand looked slightly excited. She didn't watched almost three and half hours of that Naruto marathon for nothing!

"So what do you want to go see?" Thinmints asked finally. She was tapping her foot because she didn't like the complete silence. And she was bored... so it gave her something to do.

"I...I want to see Naruto," Mimi almost said in a whisper. She was afraid that if she said it too loud that people might think she was demanding to go there, which she wasn't. "I mean... I've only watched about six and a half episodes, but it looks really good."

Her eyes got all big and sparkly, like when you want something really bad, but you don't want to tell the people. It's a complicated emotion. Nemo-chan was the first to cave into the suggestion (it being hers to begin with...).

"Yes, yes, yes! We're going to Naruto!" Nemo-chan squealed again. She started twirling around the room, only to land on her face after tripping on the rug. You could hear her muffled, but extremely happy voice through the carpet. "Yesh!"

"Um..." Mimi said suddenly, her eyes wide with realisation. "I have a question..."

Every leaned in, waiting for her to continue.

"Where am I going to live? I can't just keep sleeping on Yu-er... I mean Sohma-kun's couch for the rest of my life. It would be very bothersome for them to take care of me every day...not that they would anyway." Mimi put in quickly. She didn't want to sound like they were actually planning on keeping her there forever when she'd only stayed one night and didn't know what was even going on.

"Actually," they heard a voice by the stairs. It was Tohru. She must have come back down when everyone was discussing movies. "I haven't asked them yet... but I was thinking maybe Mimi-chan could stay here. I mean, we just added two guest rooms to the house since we always get so many visitors. All we'd have to do is put sheets and a pillow on the one bed and that one guest room will be ready."

Yuki looked to be in thought. He was so dreamy when he did that... Finally, he spoke his opinion.

"I think that's actually a good idea. Especially if she has no where else to go," Yuki looked over to Shigure for his responce. It was after all, _his_ house. But Yuki assumed he'd say yes right away because she was a highschool girl and everything.

"Well...she's a girl. I don't know about this," Shigure said with a stressed look on his face. Everyone was looking at him with puppy eyes. He caved in within seconds. "But I guess it's okay."

Everyone cheered, especially Nemo, Emi, and Thinmints. Mimi was looking at them in disbelief. _Her_... living with Yuki-kun? And his cousins, and Tohru? It was definately all too much. Especially just for her.

"But-but it," Mimi started, a little confused. "I couldn't!"

"Yes you can!" Momiji grinned in her face. "Isn't it great that you can live here?"

Mimi sighed. "But..."

Tohru, of all people, inturrupted quickly.

"I-I'm sorry, but really. It's okay!" Tohru gave her a smile. "Please go to your movie now. You need to get your mind off of everything."

"Yay!" Thinmints ran over, grabbed Mimi's arm, and started dragging her towards the door.

"Hey!" Momiji shouted. "Can I come? I haven't seen the movie yet, and I really want to!"

"yeah, sure... the more the merrier!" Emi stated. She was really just hoping that if there were more people that knew about Naruto, then she could ask them what was going on during the movie. The fact was, she'd only ever seen one episode before.

"Um... H-hey," Yuki said right before they left, making their heads turn in his direction. "C-can I come?"

They stared at him. Yuki Sohma, Prince Yuki, wanted to see the Naruto movie? This definately had to be a first.

"yeah, I guess you can come," Nemo-chan finally broke the silence that seemed to settle over again. She glanced over at Mimi, winking at her. Nemo didn't forget who Mimi had a crush on that quickly. Even if she did forget where she lived just about everyday...

"That's...that's cool," Yuki said, trying not to sound like he was excited. But in reality, he was jumping for joy in his head. "Honda-san, do you want to come?"

Tohru paused. She looked like she didn't want to disappoint him, but you could tell she was thinking of something in the back of her head. Something that was troubling her deeply, even if she herself didn't notice.

"I think I'll stay here. Gomen! But... I should put the sheets and pillows on Mimi-chan's new bed now so they'll be ready for tonight. And I need to speak to Kyo-kun some more. He still hasn't completely calmed down up there. I'd-I'd like to see if I can get him down by supper...maybe," she stopped talking and dazed out. She seemed to be standing there in thought about what she might do to get Kyo downstairs. It looked like she knew exactly how much trouble it was going to be.

Yuki sighed, but walked out with the rest of the group of friends towards the movie theater. He seemed sad that Tohru wasn't coming, and that made Mimi sad. Did her handsome (pretty?) Yuki-kun like Tohru-chan? It seemed likely... someone inturrupted Mimi's thoughts and broke the silence (again) about half way to the theater.

"Hey Mimi, sorry you couldn't stay with me," Nemo-chan spoke up. "But it's really hectic at my house with my three brothers and we don't have any extra bedroom. You'd probably had to of ended up stuffed in my tiny bedroom with me and a futon, which mind you, would not be that comfortable. It's probably best that you're living with Sohma-kun and Honda-chan now." Nemo tried to smile, and gave Mimi a pat on the back.

You could tell she had wanted Mimi to live with her, but it was probably nearly impossible with size-wise in her house. Plus, with three guys in the house (including her dad... her oldest brother is part of the zodiac) that aren't part of the zodiac, it must be hard to not turn into your animal. Mimi started to wonder how the heck Nemo-chan wasn't her zodiac form half the time, but Mimi-san quickly reminded herself that she actually probably was in _that_ form most the time if so many boys were in her house. That must be very troublesome...

"Yeah... and since me and Emi live in the main Shinora house, I don't think... Otika-sama would permit you to live with either of us..." Thinmints trailed off, not really wanting to go in that direction of the conversation.

Yuki and Momiji looked at Thinmints weirdly. What did she mean by that? Who was Otika-sama? Why were they so important that their decision would decide whether or not Mimi could live with Emi or Thinothinik? A breeze blew by and it gave all of them chills down their backs. Yuki was absent-mindly reminded of his experiances in 'the room' with Akito, but he shook it off quickly with a shake of his head.

"We're really sorry Mimi-chan!" Emi exclaimed, wishing she could do something. But the fact was, they couldn't. Otika-sama ruled them all. And the truth was, none of them knew if Mimi would even be allowed to live with the Sohmas. It seemed very unlikely, but she had to live somewhere, right? Hopefully Mimi would at least get to stay with Tohru-chan, Kyo-kun, and Yuki-kun. It was her only hope, really...

Finally they arived at the theater, and paid for their tickets. They were walking to their movie **(a/n: may I remind you? 'The Naruto Movie' if I haven't said it enough... ) **when Thinothinik squeaked real loud, then covered her mouth, her cheeks glowing red.

"Nik-chan, what is it?" Mimi asked, wondering what could have stirred that 'squeak' out of her friend.

"Haru-kun," was all she said, and they all understood completely.

He was standing by the Naruto Movie's door, grasping a little girl's hand, a girl with beautiful light orange hair. Next to them was a a boy about the same height as the girl, and he was shooting death glares at the poor, clueless Hatsuharu. At the squeak, they all looked back to see the group standing there, ready to get in.

"Yuki, Momiji, girls. Hey... aren't you that one girl, Thinmints?" Haru said.

Thinmints smiled cutely. She was dancing in her head, so happy that he remembered who she was. "Yes, yes I am!"

"Haru-kun...who are these girls?" the adorable little girl said in her soft voice. Her eyes were big and innocent, waiting for his answer... only making the younger boy glare at Hatsuharu even more.

"Um, that's Nemo...I don't know if that's her real name or not though...that's Mimi-san, that's Momiji, and that's Thinmints," Haru pointed to each of them as he said their names. "They're all sophmores."

"Hatsuharu!" they heard the young boy speak. "Momiji's not a girl, or did you forget? Although I guess it _would_ be kind of hard to remember he's a guy if he keeps wearing all those feminine clothes."

"Hiro!" the cute girl admonished. "Th-that's not nice to say!"

Haru still had his completely blank stare on. He always had that completely blank stare on. Thinmints said though, that that was the reason why she liked him so much. Whatever that meant...

"Um, this is Kisa Sohma," Haru said, placing a hand on the girl's head, and getting another rather harsh glare from the boy. "And that's Hiro. I think he's planning on getting married to Kisa."

The two kids blushed deeply. Hiro's glared disappeared and turned into a daze, where he looked away from everyone. Plan make Hiro finally shut up; success. Haru had to be a genuis of some sort.

They found out that Haru, Hiro, and Kisa were going to watch the new Naruto Movie also, so they went in and all sat down together. Thinmints jumped at the chance when they asked who would sit between Haru and Hiro, so Hiro wouldn't kill Haru. (he might want revenge on Haru for being so attached to Kisa...) Mimi somehow ended up separated from Yuki-kun, and sat between Nemo-chan and Momiji instead. It didn't turn out so bad though because the movie was great, and everyone ooh-ed, aww-ed, and laughed at all the right parts. **(a/n: don't you just hate it when people laugh at the stupidest things during a movie? Of course... I probably shouldn't be talking because I'm one of those people... ;;)**

When it was over, they all waved good-bye to Haru, Kisa, Hiro, and Momiji (it was about time he finally went home...). Then about half way to the Sohma residence, Mimi and Yuki waved bye to Nemo, Emi, and Thinothinik as they took their road back home. It left Mimi and Yuki in a very uncomfortable silence. **(a/n: what's with all these uncomfortable silences? well... it could have something to do with Mimi's _mother_...since she just _died_!... Just thought I'd make that clear...) **By the time they got back to the Yuki-kun's house... Mimi's house also, now that she thought about it, they still hadn't even said one word. It made her think about her mom again.

When Tohru showed her to her new room, Mimi sat down on the bed to find it was very soft and comfortable. The comforter was aquamarine with tan, light brown-ish swirls in it, and the pillows had a matching design, only with a large white rose imprinted on each. They made her smile, if not a little bit despite knowing what was coming up tomorrow morning. She told Tohru that she wouldn't be down for supper, she didn't feel hungry much, and that she'd probably be going straight to bed. A wave of sleepiness had caught her on the way home, and she felt like completely letting go of herself right then. So she did. Into a long, dreamless sleep.

The next morning, Mimi awoke at seven a.m. She quickly got up to brush her hair and change when she realised she didn't have anything to brush her hair with, or any clothes to change into. It turns out that she was so tired the night before that she'd even slept in Tohru's outfit without even thinking about pajamas. Almost ready to leave her bedroom, she noticed a black kimono hanging on her door **(a/n: there's a little hanging thing on the door...)**. A sticky note was attached to it saying she could borrow it for her mother's funeral. It made her almost cry. Everyone had been so nice to her lately, it was so hard to think.

Taking the kimono to the bathroom, Mimi was getting ready for her shower when she noticed a brush, a toothbrush, toothpaste, scope, and a cup with an engraved name - Mimi, on it on the counter, next to the sink. Mimi gave a tiny smile, before finishing her bathroom duties. (showering, brushing her hair, brushing her teeth, etc.) At last, she finished putting the black kimono on correctly, and she was ready to go downstairs and face the fact of her own mother's funeral.

By the time she got down the stairs and walked into the kitchen, Mimi noticed there were a few more faces than there should have been. Nemo-chan, Emi-san, and Thinmints were there, along with a grim looking Momiji. They were all wearing the color black, talking quietly among themselves. It seemed that they didn't see Mimi standing there yet, and were still waiting for her to come down. Mimi gave a cough, acknowledging them that she was in fact there, but she was still confused to why they were there. And further yet, why were they wearing black as well?

"Mimi-chan!" Emi announced, even though the rest of the room already saw she was there. "Hey, how are you feeling? You look white!"

"Oh..well I'm just...why are you guys here?" Mimi finally finished. She didn't really feel like explaining to them why she wasn't looking well. First it was because they'd gotten her a bunch of new things, and now it was because she was dreading to go to her mother's funeral. It could be any funeral in the world... but why did it have to be her mother's?

"We're going to go with you!" Thinmints said. She almost looked scared, but that could've just been Mimi's imagination.

"But didn't... but Otika-sama..." Mimi trailed off. If Otika-sama found out they went to her mother's funeral, they'd all be punished. "You can't go! I won't let you do that to yourselves!"

Momiji looked confused, but let it go. It was the Otika person again, and he didn't like talking about them. It reminded him of Akito too much.

"We don't care. You're our friend, and our cousin! Your mom was our aunt...in some ways anyways, I'm not sure completely how were're related still... someone has to go besides you!" Emi told her firmly. It didn't sound like they were going to give up anytime soon.

"But..." Mimi said.

"No buts!" Nemo-chan confirmed.

"Mimi-chan! Tohru and I are coming too!" Momiji said almost excitedly, but not quite enough to make it look like he was excited to go to a funeral. It was more on the side that he was happy they'd be there for her. "Shigure was going to drive us, but then your cousins showed up and there isn't enough room in the car for all of them too. Besides... I don't think Shigure has a driver's license, so I don't think it's safe to have him drive anyway..."

"Yeah... um, Kyo-kun and Yuki-kun will be coming too," Tohru explained as she came around the corner from the hallway. She was wearing a nice black dress as well. **(a/n: the exact one that she wore to her own mother's grave.) **"We'll all be going out to eat afterwards, if that's alright with you. We just thought it might be nice to relax after a tense time..."

"Alright..." Mimi agreed almost absent-mindedly. To think that all these people, her friends, were going to be with her at her mother's funeral! Here she had thought that she'd be the only one there...

"Are you going to get something to eat?" Tohru asked, putting an egg she'd just made onto a plate. "I can make anything you want..."

"No, that's okay. I'm not that hungry anyway."

Tohru looked at Mimi worried. She hadn't eaten supper the night before, and now she wasn't eating breakfast. It reminded her of when her own mother died. She didn't eat for a few days because she just didn't know what to do. It was an awful time for her.

Mimi sat down near the table, and watched everyone eat without her. Even Kyo, Yuki, and Shigure were down there now, eating eggs like everyone else. Mimi's face was sort of distant, she was watching everyone, but yet she wasn't. She'd done that a lot lately. But nonetheless, she watched them... up until the very last egg was devoured (it was Momiji... he seemed to be taking his sweet old time eating this morning.).

After all the dishes were cleared and everything was cleaned up, it was about time to leave. If they walked, it would take a bit longer than driving, so they needed to start now in order to get there in time. They all collect their things, purses, small jackets, etc, then walked out the door.

Right away, the group sort of split up into different groups. Tohru was talking with Kyo-kun and Yuki-kun near the front, Mimi and her cousins, along with Momiji were talking in the middle, and Shigure was sort of dragging along in the back. None of them really noticed it, but it happened. Momiji strike up a random conversation. Mimi guessed it was to make her feel better, but she wasn't sure.

"Hey... did you know Tohru's mother died?"

They all stared blankly at him. No. They didn't know.

"Well... it was almost a year and a half ago. Her father died when she was three. After her mother died, she lived with her Granpa, but when he needed to remodel his house, he moved in with her relatives for a short period of time, but there wasn't any room for her. Tohru didn't want to burden her friends with another person in the house, so she actually started living outside, in a tent, for a week. All by herself."

The Shinora's stared at him some more. They were all waiting for him to continue. They hadn't known any of this about Tohru!

"It turns out that her tent was on the Sohma property, and Yuki and 'Gure found her one night on their walk back home. What a surprise it was for them when they found out a highschool girl was living on their property, in a tent of all things! They decided to let her stay, despite the problem of her being the only girl that would be in the house. She accepted hesitantly, just like you Mimi-chan. But I think it really turned out for the better. Yuki is much less cold towards people than he was before, and Kyo hasn't got as much of a temper than before either. It was Tohru that did that. She's a special person..." Momiji trailed off. He was smiling to himself even though he couldn't see it. He liked talking about Tohru, he really did.

Mimi was walking still, but her thoughts were in wonder. Tohru... was just like her? She went through worse than her, but yet she's so much stronger than her? Maybe... maybe it meant that from here, all it could do was get better. Mimi hoped deeply that was what it would be.

Before they knew it, they were all there. In the distance, Mimi could see a closed coffin. She choked back tears, but she shook violently despite her promise to not cry again. It was all too much. Even if it would get better, right now, the present... it was too much. Walking over to the main area where the funeral were to take place... out in the graveyard, Mimi stood still as she was standing right beside the coffin. Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure stayed by the back, Momiji and Tohru in front of them, Mimi's cousins right behind Mimi herself. They were crowding around her, patting her on the back and saying that it was okay, and okay to cry. It was then that she noticed a drizzle starting to come down. Before a minute passed, it had started a steady rain.

The preacher droned on for a while, as if he didn't even noticed that not a great deal of people showed up. He talked about how great a person she was even though he didn't even know her, but he blessed her anyway. The rain still fell, and the sun hid behind the darkened clouds. Finally the preacher asked Mimi if she wanted to say anything about her mom, but she had started to cry. And she was cried so hard and silently, that she couldn't even speak. Nemo finally nudged her softly, and Mimi began to talk in a murmur. It was quiet but they could still hear her talking softly, and continiously.

"Sherry-mama... I don't know what's going to happen now, but these kind people are letting me stay with them in their house. They've bought me lots of things that I lost in the fire, but the one thing I know they can buy for me is another mom. Tohru's trying her best to act motherly, though I have a feeling that's just her normal personality. I... I want to tell myself you're going to be back soon, that I'll turn around and see you standing beside me as if it were all a dream. But I'm slowly finding out that each morning you aren't there. And that you won't be there. Not once again. But I've...I promised myself I'll be strong. I know that's what you would have wanted from me. So even if I can't see you again, I'll still be with you. Okay? ...I love you mom, bye..."

After she stopped, the preacher talked for about another minute... blessing her again. Then... then they began to lower the coffin into the already dug hole. It was a weird feeling, seeing your mom... well your mom's coffin anyway, getting dropped into a huge hole. You almost want to scream out, yell at them for trying to bury your mother, but you can't say anything. You're throat's gone dry and you can't say any more. So that's how it ended.

Mimi heard footsteps... it must have been Shigure, Kyo, and Yuki walked slightly further away. It must be time to go, but her feet don't really register to her brain. She hears more footsteps... Momiji and Tohru must be walking away. Finally, she felt a few tugs on her kimono, and she turned with her friends, and started to walk away also. The weirdest thing happened though. Even though it was raining, there hadn't been a wind... but right then, she felt a wind wrap around her. Almost like a hug, one last hug.

Mimi turned quickly towards the grave again, the wind still wrapping around her. When the wind finally let go, Mimi swore that she heard a voice after that. It sounded like... "I'll always be with you. I love you too." Staring at nothing for a minute, her friend's looked at her funny. They tugged at her kimono again, and she almost started walking away again. Something caught her eye though, that kept her from completely walking away. On the ground, was a single white feather, not like any bird's that she'd seen before. Leaning down, she whispered something, picking up the beautiful, flawless, white feather.

"Mom..."

"Mimi, we should go. They're getting further away," Emi said, not sure if she should have said anything.

"Okay," Mimi sighed, a single last tear running down her cheek.

It was weird. Even though she'd just gone to her mother's funeral... she didn't feel alone. Her mom was still there, somewhere. And her friends, her cousins... Tohru, and the Sohma's too. They were all caring for her in some sort of way. Letting her live with them, talking to her, helping her. They all loved her. Mimi's eyes smiled for the first time that day. Even with the rain, and the funeral, everything seemed to be at peace right now.

Looking ahead to where Momiji and Tohru were walking, she noticed how close they were. Only there was a gap. Barely noticable, but it was there. It looked like herself, when she walked next to a guy. She knew that if she got too close that she'd turn into that cute little sheep, with wool, and hooves. Suddenly, a thought flew across her mind. Momiji had been hugging her! Twice now! And she hadn't turned into a sheep! How did that... wait... what?!

Momiji could hug her?

**A/N: Yes... a _very_ long chapter. Well, eight pages anyway. One of the longest chapters I've ever written for any fanfiction. But I seriously had a LOT to put in here. I wanted the funeral to be in this chapter... and at first, they weren't going to go to the movies, but somehow it got put in there. I finally put in a little confusion to why Momiji keeps hugging Mimi. Yay! And just as a reminder... my friends in this story, picked their names themselves, so Thinothinik... was an original by my friend. I keep going back and forth between Thinmints and Nik and Thinothinik right now because they still aren't completely sure what to call her since Haru started calling her Thinmints. I plan to just completely change it to Thinmints after a few chapters so it's not as confusing. You'll see Mimi changing and becoming happier also... due to the fact that even though she knows her mom is dead, she finally realises that she's still looking over her. Sherry-mama is officially an angel guardian over Mimi now... just so you're wondering. That feather she found is in fact one of her mother's wing's feathers. Sorry for anyone that may have been reading it and wanted it updated... I seriously had a huge lack of writing ideas. (although my artistic flair seemed to pop up out of nowhere for the past month...) Anyway... I'd better stop talking, or I'll end up taking another page up. I'll be seeing you!**

**-Lil Enchantress-**

**-Mimi-chan-**

**Ps: See that purple-ish, blue-ish review button? That's for clicking... please click it! **


	6. No Hugging Allowed

_Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. I do own most of the Shinora clan. End of story._

**The Shinora Family**  
Chapter 5; No Hugging Allowed  
Written by Lil Enchantress

The entire time while everyone was eating, Mimi tried not to keep eye contact with Momiji. She wasn't exactly sure why, but just knowing that they could hug and she didn't transform made her uneasy. As she picked at her slowly getting cold food, millions of questions shoved themselves into her head.

Could he be the exception to the curse? Was her curse broken? Why hadn't anyone noticed? Momiji couldn't be a part of the Shinora clan, could he? Maybe a distant relative? But she didn't remember him from any on the yearly ceremonies, and Mimi was sure she'd remember someone else that was half-German. Or she assumed he was anyway because he would randomly start speaking in fluent German, like herself.

The sinking feeling in her gut started getting worse as new questions started forming. Was there something wrong with her? Did Momiji maybe know something she didn't? Did Otika-sama know what was going on? Did her mother somehow release the curse when she died? At what cost would that have been? Mimi would much rather have her Sherry-mama than some lame old broken curse (even though that too was important)! All this didn't make much sense!

Mimi groaned as she held her head to calm the headache that had formed. Nik-chan looked over at this and patted Mimi on the arm.

"You okay?" she asked, concerned for her friend. Maybe Mimi was upset about her mama still.

Glancing up at Nik-chan, she noticed her other cousins had been looking at her also. It made her feel horrible because they all had the same pitying look. They didn't know why she was worried. Mimi looked over to Momiji who was innocently talking with Tohru-san. He had no idea that she was supposed to turn into a sheep. There was nothing wrong with just hugging a girl. It was normal.

Momiji looked up at Mimi, still half talking with Tohru-san. When he noticed her cousins looking at her, he stopped mid-sentence.

"Mimi, are you okay?" he too looked at her with a pitying face, and she looked away almost angrily. Biting her lip, Mimi looked down at her food. She didn't want them to pity her because her mother died. It felt… nice to know they cared, but she didn't want to think about it. There were bigger problems as of now. Like Why Momiji could hug her.

"I'm fine," she said, finding her voice was a little raspy. Clearing her throat, she repeated it to tell herself it was true. "I'm fine…"

Momiji looked temporarily pleased, but her cousins could tell there was still something wrong. Mimi never could keep her emotions off her face.

"Mimi-chan, do you want to talk about it later?" Emi piped up softly, not wanting the Sohmas to hear. She could tell that was probably the source of Mimi's emotional problem.

"Um…" Mimi looked at Emi, Nik, and Nemo reluctantly. It _would_ be nice to just get it off her chest. But what could they do about it anyway?

"That's it, we're going!" Nemo jumped up, grabbing Mimi's arm as she walked past and pulled her up with her. She was going in the opposite direction to where the restrooms were…

"Uh, we're just going to the bathroom to… freshen up or something," Emi smiled, pushing her chair in and walking in the right direction to the restrooms as Nik went over and grabbed Nemo's arm and pulled her in the right direction, Mimi flailing behind them as a caboose. The Sohmas and Tohru were left staring at them in confusion as the Shinora friends rushed off to the restroom. What a crazy crowd…

When they were all gathered inside the decent-sized restroom, Nik let go of Nemo, and Nemo let go of Mimi. Emi was checking the stalls to make sure no one else was in there with them and gave them the heads up when she found there wasn't. Nemo had jumped up and used the counter as a seat and Mimi had plopped to the floor of the restroom in exhaustion. (a/n: eh, that's just like me… sitting wherever the heck I am and not caring how dirty the floor is.) Mimi sighed when she found all her cousins staring at her once more.

"So…" Emi started.

"What's wrong?" Nik-chan asked, leaning against the sink with one arm.

"Is it still your mom?" Nemo asked, looking at the tiles around Mimi's feet instead of at her face.

"No! It's not my mom… it's just… it's-," Mimi slumped against the wall that was behind her, leaning her head back so that she was staring at the ceiling. She sighed as she was trying to get it out in just the perfectly chosen words. "You know how we're all members of the zodiac, right?" They looked back at her with agreeing faces, but edging her to go on. "Well when we're hugged by a member of the opposite sex, we transform into our animals. That should happen, but…"

Mimi looked at the random piece of toilet paper next to one of the stalls with an intense face. She wanted to figure this out so it'd stop bothering her! "Well maybe you guys haven't noticed… but Momiji-san has been hugging me without transforming effects." It was meant to be dramatic, and she looked up to see they'd all just realized this too. Nemo and Emi immediately brought their hands to their mouths in surprise, and Nik-chan… stood there confused. Still.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her head tilted to the side.

"Well when Momiji hugs me, I haven't been transforming. That's what I said…"

"Oh!" her face lit up in excitement of understanding. It fell quickly though as she let it sink in. "But how?"

"I don't know. That's just it…"

"I'm sure there's a completely sane explanation for everything," Emi stated calmly as her other cousins were freaking out.

"What's so sane about us anyway? Transforming into our zodiac animals… that's hardly sane." Nemo rolled her eyes, glancing back at the mirror to see her reflection.

"Do you think… do you think there's something wrong with me?" Mimi whispered almost to herself. Her eyes were clouding up with tears and she was afraid they'd spill out. Sniffing, she sucked in a deep breath of air in attempt to calm herself.

"Don't think that…," Nik crouched down beside her, patting her arm again.

"We'll figure out what's going on, just hang in there, okay. Maybe we should have a talk with the Sohmas or something." Emi crouched down beside Mimi also, rocking back and forth as she talked.

"Or maybe… her curse is broken. That'd be wonderful!" Nemo exclaimed, almost ready to hop up and dance at the idea. "Maybe you could test it by hugging Prince Yuki or something… you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Mimi blushed, but held her eyes tight shut at the idea. "I don't know… I don't know. I don't know anything anymore. What if I hug him and end up transforming? That'd be terrible. Otika-sama would be so angry!"

"Well let's just go, okay. We can at least try to talk it over with Momiji-kun later or something. There's no need to worry about it now if there's nothing we can do about it." Emi smiled and stood up straight, walking toward the restroom door. She looked back at all of us that were still sitting there. "You coming?"

Nik-chan smiled and stood up also, grabbing Mimi's hand and pulling her up. "She's right… we'll get it all sorted out."

"Let's go! Woo!" Nemo leapt off the counter and almost skipped to the door. Who knew that someone could ever be so excited after coming out of a bathroom? Well… uh, don't answer that.

When they arrived back at their table, Tohru and Momiji welcomed them with wide, dense smiles.

"Shinora-san..s!" Tohru exclaimed as they all sat down. "Are you all feeling better now?"

"Yeah! You all ran off so quickly we were worried!" Momiji waved his arms around in the air.

Shigure, Yuki-kun, and Kyo-kun were just staring blankly at the two, trying to figure out how they could act like that. They'd barely met the Shinora cousins and now they seemed to be a big part of their friends' circle. Somehow. It was awkward for them because they weren't sure where their place to say anything was.

"Ja, I'm fine," Mimi spoke up for the group, hoping that she looked presentable. She was regretting now that she'd sat on the bathroom floor in her _black_ kimono. Trying harder to brush any of the remaining dust and particles off, she sat down in her own seat as well. "I was just… well… everything's okay. Maybe."

Tohru seemed to let out her held breath at this and held a hand to her chest. "That's a relief." Mimi looked at her interestingly and she continued. "Well you see, my mom died a little while back and I don't think I did as well as you on her funeral day. I was worried because I realized different people are affected differently by everything and I wasn't sure how you'd take it. Just remember there are other people here for you, okay?"

She smile sweetly even though Mimi could tell her eyes were sad. So she'd gone through the same thing…

"…thanks," Mimi whispered lightly, looking down at the table. It really meant a lot to her to have someone say that for her. Suddenly a ray of light appeared in Mimi's head and an idea came to mind. Tohru! She's lived with Momiji's cousins for a while… maybe she knows something about Momiji that could be related to her family's curse! If she and her cousins could talk to her for a moment alone… then they might be able to figure something out!

"Um," Emi stood up suddenly, pushing her chair out so she could move. She looked reluctant to say what she was about to, but continued anyway. "I forgot that I told my friend Julian we would meet at the mall in ten minutes. So I have to go… gomen!"

"Oh, Julian? You mean your boyfriend?" Nik-chan laughed happily as Emi blushed.

"N-no! He's my friend that's a boy. That's it." Emi stuttered, gathering her stuff to leave.

"Yeah, but the one you want to go out with…" Nemo smirked as Emi blushed harder and turned sharply to leave.

"I could never go out with him in my current state and you know it." Mimi watch Emi rush off, out the door, before turning back to her other cousins, trying to figure out what was going on.

"What was-," Mimi started before Nemo cut her off with a look that said 'don't ask now.'

"We'll tell you later, okay?" Nik-chan looked down at her own food scraps and sighed. For a minute she looked sad about the situation, but then widened her eyes, looking up at the both of them quickly. "Oh no! I told Sissy I'd meet her a half an hour ago! We made plans last month and I only now remembered!"

She jumped up also and started running towards the restrooms, which, mind you, is in the opposite direction from the front door.

"Nik, now you're going the wrong way!" Nemo called down to her, hands cupping her mouth to amplify the noise.

"No I'm not! I forgot my purse in the bathroom!" Mimi saw the restroom door swing shut once, and then swing back with Nik-chan coming towards them again, purse in hand. "I'm so sorry about this after Emi just left too, but I'm such a scatter brain. I'll see you in school!"

A small gust of wind blew in when she left, but it stopped when the door slammed shut. It seemed as if a silence fell over all of them at the sudden leaving of Mimi's friends. They were who was making most of the noise anyway. After a few more awkward moments, Tohru brought herself to speak through the uneasiness.

"So… maybe we should all go home now? I mean since it looks like everyone's done eating- not to say you are if you aren't, if you aren't then we can stay longer!" Tohru her hands in front of her chest facing outward, waving back and forth frantically, her hair on end. It was Kyo that leaned forward and smacked her lightly in the head to shut up, leaving his hand on her forehead maybe a second or too more than necessary.

"Jeez, woman…," he blushed, pulling his hand away.

"I-I'm done, are you done?" Mimi's own plate still had mostly everything on it, but she hadn't been hungry anyway. She looked over to Nemo's plate that was spotless and her face fell. "Forget I asked…"

"Oh, yeah, I finished a while back. I guess I eat fast. Or so I'm told…" Nemo laughed, standing up so they could get ready to leave. The others had all already stood up as well. Mimi stood up slowly; pushing her plate further away from her, as if afraid she was going to throw up if she kept looking at it. All the Sohmas were staring at her now and she began to feel bad for holding them back.

"Um, do you guys just want to walk ahead?" Mimi didn't really feel like walking very fast, but she didn't want them to keep slowing down for her.

"Hey! Can I come over?" Nemo's eyes sparkled again, as if saying that even if she wasn't invited or allowed she was going to come anyway. "I mean, if you don't want me to… psh."

"Oh, well I don't think one more girl will be a problem, high school girls are so fabulous!" Shigure's face turned goober happy for a moment before Yuki-kun smashed the back of his head in, and forcing him to the ground. He suddenly made a quick change of wording. "I mean, you are indeed allowed to come. Feel free to drop by to see _Mimi-chan_ any time at all."

Nemo just laughed and watched as Yuki grabbed the back of Shigure's suit, dragging him out the door to the others. Mimi sweatdropped, silently hoping that wasn't painful.

"So?" Nemo turned to Mimi, looking at her curiously. "What now?"

"Well I guess we leave… I just want to take my time though." Mimi tightened the bow tie to her kimono, and then brushed some hair behind her ear. She realized suddenly that she'd made herself the perfect opportunity to talk to Nemo about everything just happened and about her idea. "By the way, what was Emi-chan talking about, huh?"

"Oh… that." Nemo felt bad now for teasing her. "Julian is her friend she met in middle school. She has a really big crush on him, but this year they don't have barely any classes together. Not even lunch. So they hang out a lot outside of school, but…"

"So this Julian is a guy? How can she hang out with a guy that's not a member of the zodiac?"

"I was getting to that… Emi loves him, but he doesn't know about the curse. Even if he did know and loved her back, Otika-sama wouldn't ever allow it. So she's very careful around him in every thing she does. The only problem is that sometimes it looks like she's pushing him away, so he gets the wrong idea. It's very stressful for Emi to handle…"

"Oh, that's horrible." Mimi covered her mouth, her eyes becoming distant. That's so sad… how could anyone stand that?

"Yeah."

"So… um," Mimi was searching for a way to get off that topic. It was really depressing and she didn't want to think about it more than she'd have to. "Who's Sissy?"

"Sissy?" Mimi nodded and Nemo attempted to smirk but almost tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. "She was sick the day you started school, but she's another friend that sits with us at lunch."

"Don't tell me she's related to me too…" Mimi groaned. There were too many of her relatives randomly popping up out of nowhere. One day she barely knows one of them, and the next she knows a whole bunch. It was exhausting.

"No… her name's Sissy O'Malley. I think she's from American or something... but she's really smart so her Japanese is perfect. I think she's better at it than Nik to be honest." She laughed.

"Oh, okay then. You'll have to introduce me when I get back to school."

"Right. So when will this be?" Mimi crossed her arms in a huff at Nemo's remark.

"As soon as the weekend's over. I know I was depressed, but I realized that my mom is still with me… sort of. What I'm worried about now is how Momiji can hug me."

"Alright, I get it. Well not really, but I'll let it go." Nemo said as she started to walk backwards so she could look at Mimi while she talked.

"Um," Mimi tried to think of more reasons of why Momiji could possibly hug her. "You don't think that Momiji is actually a girl, do you? I mean, he's always wearing that girl's uniform top... and it would explain how 'he' could hug me."

Nemo snorted at the idea and Mimi looked at her with a hurt face. Was the idea really that bad? "Oh, I'm sorry… it's just. Momiji is definitely a boy. I mean. Well this boy's top I have is actually Momiji's real uniform. I asked if I could use it since we're the same size at the beginning of the year. He only agreed as long as he got my uniform because he though it was cute, and since I wasn't using it, I was like 'okay.' Well he decided to change right there and stripped his shirt off. _That's_ how I know he's a boy."

"O-oh. Well I guess that makes sense. Not really, but okay." Mimi blushed at the thought of Momiji stripping his shirt off in front of her friend. Not that she liked him… it was just… okay, let's get off topic here. Besides, Yuki-kun was who she liked… (oi, I thought we were changing the subject…) "Anyway, I thought maybe we could ask Tohru about him or something. She's been living with his cousins so she may know _something_ about him, right?"

"It's worth a try, I suppose." Nemo nodded in agreement.

"At least we wouldn't just be sitting around and doing nothing…" Mimi sighed at her earlier frustration with herself. She already didn't have good self esteem, and this whole curse thing with Momiji was getting it even lower. Maybe there really was something wrong with her instead…

XoXoXoX

When Mimi and Nemo finally made it to the house, they saw the Sohmas gathered around their living room doing various things but in general watching television. Kyo-kun was pouting on the one side of the couch muttering about how the 'rat' got to sit on the good side of the couch, but Yuki-kun and Shigure looked up at the sound of the door shifting open.

"Welcome back Mimi-san." Mimi blushed, but fought it so it didn't show on her face. It was quite hard.

"Hello," she managed to mutter without stuttering.

"Me too, say hello to me too!" Shigure raised his hand for attention. "I'm the owner of the house after all."

"Oh, uh, ohayo Shigure-san." Mimi looked in the other direction. She didn't trust older men that easily. Maybe it was something to do with know how they took advantage of her mother. But even so, Shigure-san _was_ being nice enough to let her stay for a while.

"Ah, yes. Good to know you came back alright. Tohru is upstairs, cleaning up your room again right now. She's such a sweet flower, isn't she Kyonkichi?"

Mimi would've wondered who 'Kyonkichi' was, had it not been for Kyo-kun that lunged himself at his older cousin. Kyo growled in protest to his demented cousin. "Don't talk like that about her!"

"What, what? It was an innocent compliment, I swear…" He held his hands up in his defense.

"Yeah right, like half the stuff you do is innocent!"

And… well the fight began. Mimi and Nemo decided they had the perfect chance to go talk to Tohru alone if they left now, so they did. They snuck up the stair way and ran up the few remaining steps when they thought they wouldn't be able to hear over the fighting. When Nemo opened the door, Tohru was sitting on the floor, folding some extra clothes of hers for Mimi to wear. She looked up when she heard the two of them pad into the room.

"Hello Tohru-chan," Mimi started, sitting down next to her and smiling nervously.

"Ohayo Shino-chan, is there anything I can help you with?" She smiled brightly, putting down the piece of clothing in her hand to a pile.

"…Sh-shino-chan?" Mimi asked, confused. Was that a nickname for her? But how did it work?

"Oh, uh," Tohru put her fore fingers together nervously. "I was thinking about it and I thought since your last name is Shinora, then I could use part of it for your pet name. I did that for Uo-chan and Hana-chan too!" She looked up happily at the mention of her friends.

"Okay…" Mimi blushed at the caring thought and remembered what she was here for. "Um, I sorry, but I wanted to ask you something." She glanced back at Nemo who was sitting patiently in a quiet corner.

"Anything!"

"Well you've lived here with the Sohmas for a while, right? Then you must have found some things out about them too, right?" Mimi leaned forward just the slightest bit out of tenseness.

"I-uh, um, w-what do you mean?" Tohru looked surprised and almost like she was going to go frantic on them again.

"I mean like Momiji. He doesn't… uhm. Maybe have any animal characteristics does he?" It was the first thing that popped into Mimi's mind. After all, Mimi knew that she could hug other members of the zodiac, even if they were boys, without any transformation. So that might be a possibility too, right? But now that she said it she knew it had to of sounded ridiculous.

"W-well, eh, what?" Tohru was sweatdropping all over the place now and her eyes were huge. Maybe this interrogation wasn't that great of an idea after all. It just made Mimi look like a fool.

Mimi sighed, and heard Nemo shift her sitting position. She closed her eyes and was about to say 'forget about it' when she heard two people talking out in the hallway with hushed voices. They were just loud enough for Mimi, Nemo, and Tohru to hear through the small crack between the unclosed door.

"Momiji!" the one voice saidMimi remembered in shock that he too had gone home with them. And they were talking about him, what if he'd walked in on them having the conversation? The thought shifted away as she recognized who the other voice was. Yuki-kun! "Momiji, I told you to be careful. I don't know what's so special about this Shinora girl, but what if you'd transformed when you hugged her? That would've been really bad."

"But Yuki…," Momiji whined a little louder than a hush. "I didn't. And she was crying…"

"I know, but… you know what would've happened if you _did_ transform. We all would've been in trouble. Normal people don't turn into animals." Yuki seemed to have saddened as he said the last sentence. It was heard in his voice the pain he felt.

Mimi stood up quickly at the sentence though. She was right. They… but… how? When? Tohru jumped up at the same time and they both ran out the door. They stood there staring at Momiji and Yuki as Yuki realized they were there. Momiji looked over and for a moment, they all looked like they were deer in front of a car's headlights. Caught.

When Nemo poked her head around the side of the door, and that was when the four of them realized that time hadn't stopped. It began again, fast, with a lot of talking.

"Shinora-san, Honda-san," Yuki still stared in awe. How much more could the day possibly get? Seriously.

"I'm so sorry Yuki-kun, they were here, and I was there, and you were here, and…" Tohru was almost crying.

"Mimi-san, you didn't hear anything! Close your ears, forget it!" Momiji hopped over and put his hands over Mimi's ears, trying to make it so she couldn't hear anymore. Not that it was doing any good because she'd already heard it…

"Ah, I was, you, I, we…" Mimi couldn't find the words and she was having trouble hearing herself think. They were all sort of talking at the same time and nothing made sense.

It was Nemo that broke the chaos, when she made a snide remark. "So? You guys transform into animals too?" It shut them all up pretty good to try and figure out what she had meant by that. Too?

_A/N: And- cut! Haha… sorry. I finally decided to unhiatus this for a little while because all my friends that are in it were wondering when the next chapter would be posted. And I was in the mood… so here it is. Two new characters were introduced in this chapter! Well sorta. They are Julian who is Emi's original character and Sissy who is another one of my friends. Do keep in mind again that all names are created by the owner of the character. Just because Thinothinik is a little extraordinary, people have to fuss about it… I really don't see what the big deal is. Lol… _

_Anyway, until next time- Sayonara! _

Lil Enchantress  
Mimi

_Ps: 10 pages in MS Word! I deserve a review for that… Lol. :)_


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